Family Hunt
by Yarg
Summary: One rainy afternoon Annie and Tanner decide to go searching for their father and quickly find themselves in way over their heads.  Younger Sibling Fic.
1. Chapter 1

_This story is set during Season 3, some time after Jus In Bello. This is a younger sibling fic. I know its been done before, but it looks like fun so I thought I would give it a try too._

_Disclaimer: I do not own Supernatural, nor do I want to. That is too much responsibility._

Rain pounded heavily on the roof of the modest Pennsylvania farmhouse for the second day in a row. Bloated grey clouds hovered low in the sky with no intention of dissipating. Twelve-year old Tanner Finnigan hated being couped up indoors and longed for the rain to cease so he could cruise around on his ATV. He intended to blast around all 15 soggy acres of farmland until he was an unrecognizable, muddy mess. Tanner glanced at the clock and groaned. His mother would not be home with dinner for another two hours and he was bored out of his mind. He flipped off the video game with a sigh and padded through the house, searching for his sister. He figured he would join her in what ever activity she was up to or goad the fifteen-year old into a fight. The choice was Annie's, but either was sure to be an entertaining way for him to pass some time. The sound of creaking boards drew his attention towards the ceiling. He followed his ears to the hallway and was intrigued to see that the ladder-door to the attic was pulled down. Tanner climbed up the stairs and poked his head through the opening. Peering past old furniture and boxes of Christmas ornaments and long-forgotten toys, Tanner could see Annie sitting in the far corner of the attic, surrounded by a pile of shoeboxes. He climbed the rest of the way up and made his way carefully past all the junk and sat down next to her.

"Whatcha doin?"

Annie looked up and smiled. "Check it out, I found a huge stash of old photographs. From when we were little kids and babies. Even a bunch from when mom was younger. There's enough material here for I don't even know how many scrapbooks!"

Tanner rolled his eyes. Annie had gotten hardcore about scrapbooking over the past year, filling her room with all kinds of girly arts and crafts crap and snapping a million pictures at every opportunity. Still, he was actually interested in going through some of the photgraphs. They had been packed away up here and forgotten since the move 5 years ago, when their mother had inherited the family farm.

"Can I help you sort through them?" Tanner asked.

"Sure," Annie beamed, it was rare that either of her family members joined in her passion for preserving memories. "Start with this box, I think its mostly baby and toddler pictures of us. Mom never made any baby books, so if you sort them out I can make one for you and one for me."

The old, blue shoebox she indicated had lost its shape over the years and was stuffed to over capacity with photographs. Tanner began pulling them out one by one. The next hour or so was passed in amiable silence, broken occasionally when a picture would spark some reminiscing about various relatives and ill-conceived hairstyles. Tanner had emptied out his shoebox and was about to toss it to the side when he noticed a photograph, face-down and sticking out from under a cardboard flap at the bottom. He pulled it free and flipped it over.

"Hey, who are these people?" Tanner asked, handing the picture over.

Annie took the picture, looked at the image and felt her stomach dropped and the blood drain from her face. It was a picture of a man smiling tenderly at a baby cradled in his arms. He was a large-ish, rugged looking guy with dark hair that was begining to grey at the temples. Tanner was startled by his sister's strong reaction to the photo and scooted closer so he could look at it again over her shoulder.

"Who are they?" He repeated.

Annie took a second to form the words and finally answered. "Its our dad, Tan. Thats me he's holding."

Tanner exhaled sharply and took the picture back to study it closely. The resemblence was undeniable. Both siblings shared his dark hair color. Tanner's was an unruly mop in need of a cut, while Annie's curls ended neatly at her shoulders. Tanner could also see that the way Annie's eyes crinkled when she smiled look just like the man's in the picture.

"This is our dad?" He breathed in disbelief, "I thought mom got rid of all these."

"I guess she must have missed this one." Annie replied, wincing at the memory Tanner's words brought bubbling to the surface.

She had been five years old that weekend their mom's sisters had flown in for a visit. One night, after polishing off a box of wine, Aunties Claire and Shannon decided that they'd had enough of Linda Finnigan's heartache and convinced her to purge the house of all traces of her baby-daddy. There had been pathetically little to even bother with, but every photo and trinket that held his memory was gathered and ceremoniously burned in the backyard. Linda had woken up the next morning with a pounding headache and a load of guilt. Annie was heartbroken when her mother confessed what she and her sisters had done and Tanner had grown up never knowing what his father even looked like.

"Annie," Tanner began hesistantly, still staring at the photo.

"Yeah, Tanner?"

"Why- I mean, the way he's smiling at you, it looks..." Tanner struggled to get his thought out coherently, "It looks like he really, you know, loves you. So why-"

He faltered again and brought his eyes up to meet his sister's. "Why'd he leave?" He finished softly.

Annie gently took the picture back and pondered Tanner's question seriously. She knew that her parents had barely known each other and that Annie was basically the result of a one night stand. Their father rarely came around after she was born, but had apparently stayed long enough at one point to impregnate her mother for a second time. Annie had only one real memory of him and it was of the day he left for good. Barely three years old at the time, she had been drawn out of bed by the sounds of arguing. She crept into the hallway and watched the commotion, unnoticed by either adult standing in the small kitchen of their old house. Her mother was hugely pregnant and in a heated discussion with her father. The actual words had long since faded away, but Annie could clearly remember her mother's angry shouts followed by her father's low and serious replies. Eventually came the terrible sounds of heavy boots walking away, the front door slamming, the deep rumbled of a car driving off and finally, her mother crying. Annie had known in that moment, with absolute certainty, that her father would never be coming back.

Tanner shifted restlessly, drawing Annie back to the present and the question at hand. Tanner watched her closely, his expression cautious and hopeful. Their mother discouraged any discussion about their dad and was always quick to change the subject on the rare occasion that he was brought up. Tanner was concerned that his sister might react to his question in a similar manner, but she did not.

"I'm not really sure." Annie admitted slowly, "I was so little when it happened. All I really know are the few things mom has said about him and some stuff that I picked up from eavesdropping on Auntie Claire and Shannon."

"Like what?" Tanner asked, eager to know anything about his dad, even the smallest morsel of information.

"Well, I know mom met him back when she first started her job at the morgue. He said he was investigating some strange deaths for the FBI. But it turned out he was actually unemployed and just impersonating an FBI agent for some reason. I think he was, like, a degenerate gambler or something. Mom was worried because he got a lot of his money illegally and was involved with dangerous people somehow. I guess she was afraid that some of that dangerous stuff would follow him back to our family and we would get hurt. The aunts think he is unstable."

"Whoa." Tanner absorbed this information and thought it over carefully.

"What if-" Tanner started, but broke off. A theory was forming rapidly in his mind and he had to wait for it to complete before he could continue vocalizing his thought.

"Well, maybe - I mean, its been 12 years right? So a lot of people with gambling addictions go to therapy and get better. Maybe he's not even like that anymore, but he's ashamed because he abandoned us and was gone for so long and he thinks that we hate him and don't even want him to come back. Maybe he's got his act together now and just waiting for us to reach out to him!"

"Or, maybe," Tanner continued, "he was never even like that to begin with. Why would a degenerate gambler pretend to be an FBI agent and investigate murders anyway? It doesn't make any sense. Maybe he really was undercover for the FBI and mom discovered his true identity and he had to go even deeper undercover and couldn't contact us for our own safety."

"Maybe." Annie conceded doubtfully, uneasy with how quickly he was latching onto such hopes. Even more uneasy with how closely they resembled hopes she herself had endulged in from time to time.

Tanner carried on this way for some time, while his sister listened patiently and eventually began chiming in with theories of her own. Before long they were both giggling as their stories became more and more elaborate and implausible, neither of them aware that the truth about their father was more frightening and ubelievable than anything they could ever imagine.

"Hey Annie, you ever tried to google him?"

Annie contemplated his question, her mind in a turmoil over the possibility. Of course, she had thought about searching for him, but her father was such a taboo subject that she had never seriously entertained the idea. This conversation with Tanner was the longest she had ever spoken aloud to anyone about her dad and the discovery of the picture had unlocked a longing for her father that had been long since tucked away and ignored. Now, the prospect of gathering more and new information, maybe even finding a way to contact him, was growing too tempting to ignore.

As Tanner waited for an answer, a terrible thought occurred.

"I don't even know his name! Do you?"

"Yes I do." Annie answered and her face broked into a wide, mischevious smile. "Its John Winchester."

With that, Tanner knew his sister was on board his train of thought and he grinned back triumphantly. Both kids leapt to their feet and thundered down the attic stairs, the old photos temporarily forgotten and left behind in neat piles on the dusty floor. They raced each other to the computer room, intent on learning as much as possible before their mother got home.

_I have a few more chapters written and its taken me forever. Mad props to all of you who update your stories weekly, I don't know how you do it. Please review if you feel so inclined._


	2. Chapter 2

_Thanks to everyone who checked out my first chapter, you guys are cool! Hope you enjoy chapter two!_

After 45 minutes of fruitless internet searching, Annie was forced to shut off the computer when their mother's car began pulling up the driveway. Linda walked through the front door shaking rain out of her hair and entered the kitchen to find her children sitting quietly at the table, working diligently on their homework. She set the pizza boxes down and eyed them suspiciously.

"What's going on?" She asked warily.

Annie looked up with a carefully crafted expression of innocence, but Tanner kept his head down and continued writing.

"What do you mean, Mom?" Annie asked.

"Since when do you two start on homework without me hounding you?"

"There was nothing else to do, we were bored." Annie replied with a shrug.

"You're doing homework because you were bored?" Linda repeated, not buying it for a second.

Annie huffed dramatically. "Ok, geez. If you don't want us doing homework, just say so."

Linda studied her youngest, who was scribbling away in his notebook. Tanner had an obvious tell, he could never look anyone in the eye when he was lying or hiding something.

"Tanner, is there something you want to tell me?" Tanner's eyes flitted briefly to meet his mother's, then quickly returned to the page in front of him.

"Nope."

Linda sighed. She had just come off a double shift and really wasn't in the mood to get in to an argument with her kids.

"Alright. You know what? I see nothing broken and no one is bleeding, so I'll buy it for now. Dig into the pizza before it gets cold. That is if you can bear to tear yourselves away from your academics for a few minutes. I'm going to go change and wash up."

She kissed the top of each kid's head and left the kitchen. They waited until her bedroom door closed and returned to the topic of their father. Now that the seed had been planted, neither sibling was ready to give up just because of one set back.

"Googling his name was a long shot anyway." Annie said, "Search engines are for amateurs, we need some one who can access things like tax records and police reports."

"Great, we don't know anyone who can do that!"

"I might, but its probably going to cost us. I've got some money saved up from babysitting over the summer. How much have you saved up for Rock Band?"

"Um, $32.85. I think."

"Sweet, that should be enough."

Tanner had been saving up his allowance for months, but he was willing to hand it all over to his sister. He was thrilled to be involved in a top secret mission to find his father, something he had dreamt of his whole life.

The next day at school, Annie walked into the computer lab and approached the lanky 17 year old tucked away in the back corner. Andrew Farmer was an awkward, geeky teen, who was known as the resident computer genius. Annie had met him several months ago when he assisted with a photoshop seminar she attended. He had tested out of most of his senior classes and spent his days in the lab working on independent projects. Having already earned a full-ride, computer engineering scholarship to Penn State, he was basically biding his time and trying to go unnoticed until graduation day. Currently, Andrew was hunched over a computer screen, his fingers flying over the keyboard.

"Hey Andrew."

Andrew started and whipped around at the sound of Annie's greeting. He was a jumpy guy, with good reason. Being highly intelligent with limited social skills was a serious crime and as punishment the other members of the senior class tormented him relentlessly whenever they got a chance. He relaxed slightly when he saw it was just Annie. The underclassmen left him alone for the most part.

"Oh, Hi. Annie right?"

"Yeah, its nice to see you again. I never did get to thank you for your work on that seminar last semester, I really got a lot out of it."

Andrew's eyes darted nervously around the room, looking everywhere except directly at Annie. She may have been a harmless sophomore, but she was still a girl. His mouth always went dry and he couldn't seem to stop knocking things over whenever he talked to girls.

"Oh, ah, great! I'm glad. So what brings you to the magic kingdom?" He asked lamely and gestured grandly at the computers surrounding him, knocking a speaker to the tiled floor in the process.

Andrew twitched, brought his hands back in and folded his arms, embarrassed. Annie smiled politely, picked up the errant speaker and turned it over in her hands nervously. She wasn't sure how to ask a near stranger for such a personal favor, but it was too late to turn back now, so she just dove right in.

"Well, I'm actually here because I need some help finding someone..." She cleared her throat and continued on quickly, before she could lose her nerve. "...my father. Well, I don't even know that much about him, except his name, general age and he was from Kansas and a couple other things. I wrote it all down."

Annie hastily set the speaker back down on the desk. She bent down and dug around her backpack and pulled a sheet of paper from its depths. Andrew was watching Annie now, his mouth agape with surprise. He hadn't known what to expect when the petite teenager started talking to him, but certainly not this. She stood back up and held the paper out in front of her and Andrew found himself unable to look away from her wide, green eyes.

"Its just, I know you are amazing with computers and I don't really know how to even start looking properly and I thought you could help. I just want to know basic things, like is he even still alive? Maybe where he is now and what he's doing or anything you can find out about him, really. I-I can pay you."

Annie fumbled for her pockets and began pulling out the bills she and her brother had pooled together that morning. She offered him the money, but Andrew reacted as though she was thrusting a handful of cockroaches at him. He shook his head and backed quickly away. Annie stood frozen for a second as the heat of embarrassment rose to her cheeks. She dropped her hand, feeling dejected.

"Right. Sorry. I shouldn't have asked, this is inappropriate." She stuffed the cash back in her pocket and gathered her things to run from the room. "I'm sorry I bothered you."

"Wait! I can do it! I'll do it."

Annie turned back to face him, feeling confused. "Really?"

"Its just, you don't have to pay me."

"Are you sure? My brother and I have saved up quite a bit. You should be compensated for your time."

"Naw, it won't be any trouble. Besides, you're so nice and pretty -" Andrew caught himself, shook his head and let out a wavering, embarrassed laugh. "Ah, you seem nice and I wouldn't feel right taking your money."

Annie blushed at the awkward complement, but brushed it off as she handed over the the sheet of information. She was so excited that he had agreed to take on the task.

"Just, uh, give me a few days." Andrew said. "How about you come back here on Monday, during lunch?"

He was having difficulty maintaining eye contact again, but he glanced at Annie and saw her face light up with delight. Andrew felt a rare genuine smile grace his face in response.

"That soon? Wow, Andrew, thank you! This means so much me, I can't even tell you."

The morning bell rang out in the hallway and Annie scooped up her backpack. "Oh crap, I can't be late for geometry. I totally owe you big time for this. See you Monday!"

Andrew watched Annie dash out of the computer lab. Both teenagers felt as though their lives had been picked up and shaken like a snow globe and flurries of excitement floated around the two of them for the rest of the day.

The hours between the computer lab and the final bell flash by in a blur. High school kids were always the last to be picked up, so Annie raced to the school bus where Tanner was already waiting. She filled him in on the meeting with Andrew and they spent the 30 minute ride home speculating about what sort of information Andrew would dig up. They talked about everything from their worries (He could be in prison!), to their most outlandish hopes (He's secret a national hero, like Jack Bauer!). Their chatter continued as they got off the bus and crunched up the long gravel driveway. They could think and talk about nothing else, only letting the subject drop hours later, when they heard the sound of Linda's keys turning in the door.

Their mother walked into the kitchen and tried not to be disappointed by the aroma of tuna casserole. Annie was in charge of dinner on Wednesday nights, since Linda worked late, but she refused to cook any meal that required more than one dish to prepare. Tanner was in complete support of her decision, especially since Wednesday was his night to do dishes. Linda walked over to her daughter and planted a kiss on the top of her head.

"Mmmmm, tuna casserole again. Is this 3 weeks in a row now?"

Annie rolled her eyes. "What? Its easy and delicious. Plus fish is good for you."

"Yeah, yeah." Linda smiled and then narrowed her eyes at her son, who was sitting on the kitchen table, swinging his legs. "You, off the table! We don't need any boy butts where we eat."

Tanner hopped down with a smirk and accepted the kiss Linda planted on his forehead. She pulled back and tousled his hair with a grimace.

"Yeesh, when was the last time I took you to get a haircut? Can you even see past this mop?"

Tanner batted his mom's hand away and shook the hair out of his eyes. "I don't want a haircut, I like it this way."

"We'll see. Listen guys, I'm leaving for the conference early tomorrow morning. I'll probably be gone before you wake up and I won't be back until Saturday, so lets go over the rules. Tanner."

Tanner sighed, "Listen to Annie, get up and get ready for school on time."

"Yep. Annie?"

Annie pulled the squeaky oven door open and grabbed the casserole with cow-shaped oven mitts as she repeated another rule. "Keep the doors locked at all times, don't answer the phone if we don't recognize the number. Honestly Mom, we've gone over this a million times. I think we've got it."

"Well, we're going to go over it a million and one. What's next?"

The kids rattled off the remainder of the rules until Linda was satisfied, then she retreated to her room to pack for the trip. Annie heaped a couple of plates with her noodle concoction, put on her game face and joined her brother at the table. Her family lived in a safe, rural community and Annie knew she was way too old to be afraid of ghosts, monsters or the boogeyman. So she made it a point to never let on that when her mother worked nightshift or left town on business, she spent every sleepless night imagining the horrors that could be lurking in the dark, poised to descend on her small family and tear it apart. This time, however, she hesitantly allowed herself to take a small amount of comfort in the possibility that, soon she may have her father back in her life. Then maybe she and Tanner could experience what it was like to have two parents and she wouldn't have to shoulder so much responsibility anymore.

/*****/

Andrew had just stepped out of the boy's bathroom when the first bell signaling the end of classes for the day rang. He knew he should have just held it and stayed in the safety of the computer lab. Now the hallways would be filled with throngs of other students flocking towards freedom. Andrew swore, hunched his shoulders defensively and darted down the hall, praying he could make it back unnoticed. No such luck. The entrance to the computer lab was in sight when a foot shot out of the crowd. Andrew tripped and crashed to the ground amid peals of laughter. Burning with humiliation, Andrew scrambled to his feet and dashed to his sanctuary. He headed straight to his station at the back of the room, glancing over his shoulder to see if anyone was following. To his horror, another pair of feet tangled in his and he found the ground rushing up to meet him once again. A hand gripped his arm and Andrew wondered with dread if this was another situation in which he was going to have to try and stand up for himself.

"Oh my gosh, Andrew! I'm so sorry, are you ok?"

Andrew's astonished gaze travelled from the hand resting on his arm, to the worried eyes of its owner. Annie pulled him to his feet, feeling like a jerk. She wasn't expected for several more days, but she just had to know if he had found anything yet and now she'd probably given him a concussion. Andrew, for his part, was not all that surprised to see Annie hovering nervously near his computer. There had been a quiet intensity in her request for help the previous day and he'd felt compelled to put his other projects on hold and begin the search right away. While he'd never doubted his ability to find answers if they existed, he'd been stunned when he struck gold on the first night. The information he uncovered was huge, but incomplete. Andrew had hoped that Annie would stick to their plan to meet on Monday. He didn't feel comfortable divulging what he had discovered without digging further. Unfortunately, the second her soft green eyes locked on his, any resolve he may have had melted away.

"Hi Annie. I'm ok." Andrew ducked his head and sat in front of the computer terminal, unable to meet her eyes again.

"Hi Andrew," Annie's tone was apologetic, "I just wanted to stop by and see if you'd had a chance to work on the search yet. But I'm bugging you, I'll just go."

"No!" Andrew answered quickly, "You could never bug me. Actually, I did find some information for you, but um..."

Annie's eyes widened, "But what?"

"Well, if I tracked down the right John Winchester, its potentially pretty huge. But I think I need to do some more digging to make sure I have all the necessary information. Maybe you should just wait and come back tomorrow?"

Annie regarded him with a disbelieving half-smile. "Dude, with a lead in like that, do you really expect me to walk away empty handed right now!"

"Uh, no." He admitted with a small grin of his own, "Ok, well I found three different cell phone numbers registered to John Winchesters born in Kansas. I called them all. One is a freshman at Kansas State University, one is a 30 year old real estate agent in Topeka and this one goes straight to voicemail. Can I see your phone?"

Annie passed it to him and watched with bated breath as he dialed a number and handed it back. As soon as the deep voice began to speak, Annie gasped.

"Thats him! I recognize his voice!" She was shocked to find that even after all these years, her father's voice was achingly familiar, as though no time had past since she'd last heard it.

Andrew gulped and urged her to pay attention to the message. She focussed in on the actual words just in time to catch the end of the message.

"...if this is an emergency, call my son Dean at this number..."

Annie didn't catch the number because the world had begun to spin dangerously around her. She sat down heavily and stared at the phone in her hand, stunned.

"His what? Call his who at the what?"

Andrew regarded Annie solemnly, like a time bomb that was about to go off. Was she going to faint, cry, start screaming? He was completely ill-equipped to deal with any of those scenarios. Fortunately, all she did was return the phone to her ear and hit send again. When the message ended, she calmly lowered the phone and looked at Andrew, at a loss for words.

Andrew cleared his throat and cautiously began to speak again. "I, um, checked the phone records going back more than a year and there haven't been any outgoing calls from John's number."

"What about the other number?" She swallowed, "Dean's?"

"Its active. I called that one too. It rang, but nobody answered. Do you want to try calling?"

"No. I don't think so, no. Not right now."

"Um..."

Andrew had more information, but was beginning to feel in over his head. Investigating the Winchesters had started out as a fun, unique challenge and he'd been thrilled with the ease at which he had been able to track them down. However, as he watched the range of emotions play across the face of a girl he barely knew, the reality of what he was doing hit home.

"Um, what?" Annie asked, "Is there more?"

"Oh. Uh, no. Nope. Thats all I have right now."

Annie eyed him wryly. "Dude, you are a terrible liar. What else have you got?"

Andrew sighed, "Well, I've never activate someone else's cell gps before, so I wanted to try. Turns out, its really easy. See, every phone made in the past decade comes equipped with -"

"Andrew!" Annie snapped, "Skip the techno-babble!"

"R-right. Sorry. Well, Dean's cell phone has been at the Motel 70 in Crystal Spring, Pennsylvania for the past 3 days. Its still there now."

"...Pennsylvania?" Annie echoed in disbelief.

"Yeah, but -" Andrew didn't get to finish his thought, as Annie was already on her feet and in front of his computer, typing furiously. She stopped and pointed excitedly to the Google Map on the screen.

"Crystal Spring is only two hours away!" She practically squealed.

Annie sent the map to the printer as the second bell sounded.

"Ohmygosh, I've gotta go or I'm going to miss the bus!" Breathless with excitement, Annie snatched up the document from the printer and dashed out the door, calling behind her, "Thank you so much Andrew, you're amazing!"

"Annie wait! What are you going to do?"

He got no response, Annie was already down the hall and bursting through the double doors into the sunlight. She darted past the other late stragglers and pounded up the rubber steps of her bus. The bus driver raised a stern eyebrow at her.

"Cutting it kind of close, aren't we Miss Finnigin?"

Annie tossed out a quick and insincere apology and made a beeline for her brother. Tanner was leaning over the back of his seat, talking animatedly to a redheaded kid from his class. Without pausing Annie hooked her arm around his elbow and dragged him down the aisle to an empty portion of the bus. One look at her face and Tanner knew she'd hit pay dirt in the search. By the time Annie finished recounting the events in the computer lab, Tanner's eyes were the size of saucer plates. Annie wasn't sure if he even blinked during the entire ride home.

/*****/

Sam gritted his teeth and glared at the book he was trying to read as another rubber band bounced off the back of his head. _'Do not turn around, do not react. That's exactly what he wants.'_ However, the thought was barely completed before he felt a sting to his ear, followed by a low chuckle. Sam shoved back his chair, crossed the room and snatched up the bag of rubber bands that Dean had found abandoned in one of the motel drawers.

"Knock it off!" Sam growled.

Dean grinned innocently from the bed on which he was sprawled.

"Knock what off?" He asked and shot his last remaining band at his brother's head.

Sam dodged out of the way and slugged Dean in the arm before returning to the thick, leather bound book he'd been pouring over for the last hour.

"Ow!" Dean was laughing, pleased to have finally gotten a rise out of the boring giant. "Geez, you're grumpy."

Dean was feeling antsy. The last three days had been filled with awkward interviews and hours of sorting through historical documents. They were investigating a series of strange disappearances along a lonely stretch of road outside of town. There had been reports of vehicles found abandoned, their owners never seen again, dating back to 1929. The locals had quickly learned to detour around that area but out-of-towners had no clue about the dangerous route. Following the development of the nearby highway, the disappearances tapered off to a rarity. They did not stop completely, however, with the most recent one occurring little more than a week ago. The brothers eventually determined the culprit to be the spirit of Edwin Morris, an eccentric hermit, who had a house in the woods that the road cut through. He died the same year that the first abandoned truck was found. He was buried in a small graveyard, just off the very same road that had claimed so many lives. Now it was just a matter of waiting for the sun to go down so that they could dig up his bones undetected and sunset was still hours away.

Dean sighed and heaved himself off the bed. "That's it, I can't stay cooped up in this crap-ass motel any longer. I'm gonna go for a drive, stretch my legs or something. Wanna come?" He already knew the answer.

Sam shook his head and held up his book. "I'm good."

Dean rolled his eyes and headed out the door. "Alright Nerd."

He tried not to feel too disgruntled with Sam, but it bugged him to be lied too. He didn't want his younger brother spending every spare moment researching ways to save Dean's ass from Hell's deep fryer. Sam insisted that wasn't what he was doing, but Dean knew better. He had to get out and blow off some steam before he picked a real fight with his brother. There wasn't much time left and they couldn't afford to spend it being pissed off at each other. He closed the motel door and got in his car. They'd seen what most of the town had to offer already and the prospects weren't good, but Dean was not one to give up easily. He was sure there had to be an easy, hot girl somewhere around here and, by God, he was going to find her.

/*****/

The garage door shuddered open with a reluctant screech to reveal a dusty 1998 Dodge Neon. Annie stared at the purple car and bit her thumbnail contemplatively. She'd had her learner's permit for three whole months now and considered herself to be an excellent driver. She took the responsibility very seriously and always obeyed the posted speed limits and traffic laws. If she was being honest with herself, Annie would admit that she had decided to do this the instant Andrew told her that Dean Winchester was in Pennsylvania, but Annie Finnigin was not one to make reckless and rash decisions. She was the type who considered all options and carefully weighed the consequences. She would never spontaneously decide to take her little brother on a road trip in her mother's old car without first determining that it was the most rational and safe option.

The screen door to the house banged shut and Tanner leapt down the porch steps, sprinted across the lawn and skidded to a halt next to his sister. A huge grin was plastered on his face and he had a duffel bag slung over his shoulder filled with every road trip snack and supply he could think of.

"I mean, really, when you think about it, this makes the most sense." Annie said, vocalizing the internal debate she'd been having with herself since before they got off the bus. "We can't just call this guy up and say 'Hey! I think you might be our older brother!'. We don't know anything about him. He might think it's a practical joke or he might be dangerous. A phone call could lead him right to our house. Nope, what we need to do is go see him in person, not let him know who we are and just sort of feel him out. That would be the most sensible thing to do, right?" Annie turned and addressed the last part to Tanner, who nodded eagerly.

"Definitely the smartest thing to do. We can't take chances."

Tanner held his breath and waited to see what Annie would do next. He was sure that one wrong move on his part would cause this cool, adventurous sister standing in front of him to dissolve away, leaving behind the sensible rule-abider he'd grown up with. His breath gushed out in a sigh of relief when she nodded resolutely and climbed into the front seat, motioning for him to follow. Annie couldn't help but grin at her brother as he clambered into the passenger seat. He was radiating a kind of ecstatic joy that was infectious. Annie started up the car, instructed Tanner to buckle up and they hit the road.

_Stay tuned! Next chapter, the kids will meet their older brothers._


	3. Chapter 3

_I have never been to Crystal Spring, Pennsylvania, I simply picked it off of a map. Pennsylvania natives, please forgive my ignorance and any misrepresentation of the town._

They made it across town with out incident. It wasn't until Annie pulled up to the stoplight at the entrance ramp for the interstate that the first tendrils of fear began to play lightly over her heart.

"I've never driven on the interstate before." She said uncertainly.

Tanner, her newest personal cheerleader, spouted off every encouragement he could think of. He couldn't bear it they turned back now. The light turned green, so Annie steeled herself and pulled on to the ramp.

"Uh, Annie," Tanner said hesitantly, "I think you're supposed to go faster than this."

Annie glanced at him anxiously. "I've never gone faster than 45mph!"

They were approaching the merge lane and Tanner twisted around to behold a sea of traffic barreling towards them at high speeds.

"Well, you're going to have to go faster now!" He insisted urgently.

Annie gritted her teeth and stomped on the gas pedal. Both kids yelled in alarm as the car shot forward to join rush hour. A semi blared its horn and swerved into the other lane to avoid colliding with the Neon, eliciting more panicked screams from within.

"This is too fast! I have to get off, I have to get off!" Annie shrieked hysterically.

Tanner pointed out the windshield and shouted "There's another exit coming up! Take it!"

"Oh God, Oh God!"

Cars and SUVs continue to blast past, buffeting them with mini shock waves until she was finally able to jerk the Dodge to the right and sail down the exit ramp. They came to rest at a stop sign that intersected a seldom used state road. Annie stared rigidly out the windshield and waited for her heart rate to steady before peeling her hands off of the steering wheel. Without a word, she reached across Tanner, who was still had a death grip on the door with one hand and the other pressed firmly against his heart. Annie opened up the glove box, pulled out a map and tossed it in his lap.

"Find us another route, one that does NOT require getting back on any interstate, ever!"

Tanner slowly turned his head and stared at Annie, his face a picture of astonishment. After a dangerous ordeal like that, he had fully expected her to pull the plug on their journey and drive straight home. Annie met his gaze and raised her eyebrows impatiently.

"Right. You got it!" Tanner shook off his daze and unfolded the map, "I've always preferred a scenic route anyway."

The trauma of the interstate incident wore off fairly quickly. It wasn't long before they were mocking their earlier terrified reactions, each insisting that the other had been way more freaked out. They made the most out of the remainder of their first covert road trip, by blasting the radio and pigging out on the junk food Tanner had packed.

Taking the back roads tacked another 30 minutes to the trip and it was approaching dusk by the time Annie pulled into the motel's nearly empty parking lot. The only other vehicle present was an old Ford pickup truck parked outside a motel room near the front office. They regarded the truck uncertainly, Annie's fingered playing absentmindedly with the bouquet of flowers that lay in the seat between them. They had picked them up at a flower stand in the previous town, when Annie had been struck by what she felt was a brilliant plan. Tanner thought it was idiotic and told her as much.

"Guys do not get flower deliveries!"

"Some do, you don't know!" Annie was irritated by his complete dismissal of her idea.

"What guy has ever been given flowers? No way, he'd be pissed at whoever gave them to him!"

"Don't swear. Anyway, do you have a better idea of how to talk to him without letting him know who we are?"

Tanner thought for a second. "What about pizza delivery!"

Annie rolled her eyes, "He's going to know that he didn't order a pizza, dummy."

In the end, Tanner agreed that it didn't matter if Dean thought the person sending him flowers was a moron. The point was for Annie to get close enough to talk to him, while Tanner stayed out of sight to watch the exchange. Then they would compare observations and decide the next step from there.

Now they were sitting in the car, scarcely able to believe they'd made it this far and their older brother may be inside one of the rooms of this grungy motel.

Tanner pointed at the truck and broke the silence. "Do you think that's where he is?"

"Maybe." She hoped he hadn't checked out and left town already.

The motel was pretty much deserted. All rooms appeared to be empty, except for the one with the pickup and another at the opposite end, which was illuminated from within but had no car parked outside. Annie was about to suggest that they check them both out, but instead grabbed her brother's arm and made him duck down as another car pulled into the parking lot. She had heard it before she saw it, and the sound of its rumbling engine made her break out into goose bumps. She nudged her brother, who was peeking up over the dashboard and staring at the car with open admiration.

"Nice! That's a 1969 - no wait, a '67 Chevy Impala!"

Annie was thrown for a second. "How do you know that?"

Tanner looked at her like she'd asked how he knew chocolate cream pie was delicious. "Uh, because its an awesome car. How do you not know that?"

Annie shook her head. "Whatever. Tanner, I think that's our dad's car! That sound it makes, I swear I know it."

"No way!" This day just kept getting better and better.

Annie raised her head slightly to join Tanner in spying on the Impala, which had pulled into the space in front of the only other occupied room. The car door swung open and Dean stepped out. He was wearing faded jeans, boots and a leather jacket over a dark blue shirt. In his arms was a large paper bag that he deposited into the cavernous trunk of the car. The chick search had been a bust, but Dean had found what was, perhaps, the next best thing - A pawn shop, with a large selection of weapons and ammunition. He stocked up on ammo, then spent some time perusing the music section and had even found a "Metallica: Enter the Sandman" cassette to replace the one that had been eaten by the car's stereo a month back. The trunk dropped closed and Dean walked into the motel room, unaware that his every move was being studied and filed away for later analysis.

"Yo Sammy!" Dean called, tossing his keys on the table near the door.

Sam looked up from the open book and notes he was taking. "Dude, I'm right here. Why are you yelling?"

Dean ignored the question. "Sun's going down. Time to go gank Ted Kaczynski and find a town that actually has a bar and more than one stop light. You start packing, I'm going to hit the crapper."

Dean disappeared into the bathroom, while Sam wrinkled his nose at the TMI and started gathering up his books and clothes. He was about to start stuffing the belongings into his pack, but was interrupted by a timid knock at the door. Sam glanced up, surprised. Nobody knew the Winchesters were in Crystal Spring on a hunt and he could think of no reason that anyone would be at their door. Sam pulled a knife out of his duffel and slipped it into his waistband before approaching to door. He peered through the peep hole and frowned in confusion. He didn't know what to expect on the other side, but a small teenage girl clutching a bouquet of daisies was way down the list. He opened the door and Annie had to take a step back and crane her neck to get a good look Sam. Startled by this tall stranger, who was neither her father nor the man who had been driving the Impala, Annie was momentarily at a loss for words. Sam stared back at his odd visitor with bemused curiosity.

"Can I help you?"

Annie quickly rallied, plastered on her best customer service smile and dove into the spiel she had practiced on the drive over.

"Hello sir! My name is Amanda Jones and I'm from Beauty Blossum's Florist. I have a delivery here for..." She made a show of reading the name off the card, "A Mr. Dean Winchester."

Suspicion suddenly clouded Sam's face. He quickly scanned the parking lot and saw no one else around. Annie looked back up to find him glaring at her with hate-filled eyes. Her smile faltered and as she considered beating a hasty retreat, his hand snake out of the doorway and grasped a fistful of her hooded sweatshirt. Tanner, hidden in the shadows of a nearby stairwell, could only watch in horror as his sister was dragged across the threshold and the door banged shut behind her.

_Many thanks to my reviewer, those of you who added Family Hunt to your story alerts and everyone who is reading. Its awesome to know that there is someone other than myself enjoying this story._


	4. Chapter 4

Sam slammed Annie's back against the door and had the knife to her throat before she could even fully process that she'd been pulled inside the room. The flowers fell from her suddenly weak fingers and Annie stared into the steely brown eyes that were just inches from her own and tried to remember how to breath.

_'Holy crap, Tanner was right!'_ She thought irrationally, _'Guys hate getting flowers!'_

"Who are you?" Sam demanded.

Annie opened her mouth to repeat the fake name, but could produce little more than a frightened squeak.

The bathroom door clicked open. Dean stepped out and froze at the sight of his brother menacing a terrified teenage girl. Annie caught a glimpse of his stunned face and fervently hoped that he was her big brother and he could put a stop to all of this. Surely, he would disarm the looming psycho, apologize for his disturbed friend and send her on her way.

"Sam, what's going on here?" Dean asked cautiously.

"She just showed up outside our door," Sam replied, then added pointedly, "with a delivery for Dean Winchester."

All hope vanished when Dean's face hardened and he picked up a sawed-off shotgun from one of the beds. He positioned himself to get a clear shot at Annie and smirked cruelly.

"Stupid mistake, sweetheart. I haven't used my real name in months."

Annie whimpered and closed her eyes, unable to believe the situation she had gotten herself into. Like being doused by a bucket of ice water, reality came crashing down and the fantasy of the last few days melted away. What had she been thinking? Running off without telling anyone, knocking on sleazy hotel room doors, of course this was going to end badly! She prayed that Tanner was following the contingency plan they had established in the car. She'd left her cell phone with him and if things got out of hand, he was to immediately call the police.

"You may as well drop the act. We've got you trapped." Sam released his grip and backed up a few steps. Annie did not move, she felt frozen in place against the door.

The brothers had been on edge ever since they'd left Monument, Colorado. Lillith wanted their heads and had gotten way to close achieving her goal. They refused to let it interfere with their hunts, but couldn't help constantly looking over their shoulders, wondering when she would catch up with them again. Sam glared down at his captive intruder and believed that she finally had.

"I bet she's one of Lillith's followers." He speculated. "Hell, maybe she even is Lillith."

Annie's eyes flew open. This was just a misunderstanding, they thought she was someone else. She could fix this!

She finally found her voice, "M-my name is Annie. I don't know anyone named Lillith!"

"Annie, is it?" Sam asked derisively. "I thought you said your name was Amanda."

"Its - I..."Annie floundered for a reply and cursed herself. Why had she lied? She tried to think of a way to quickly explain herself, but the truth was so convoluted. She decided to just dive into it and hope she came out with something halfway coherent.

"Ok, my name is really Annie Finnigin. I came here because my dad's name is John Winchester and I thought Dean might be my brother and I just wanted to meet him. I'm really sorry I lied and now I just want to leave." She stared at them with pleading eyes. "Can I please just leave?"

A pit formed in Annie's stomach when anger colored Dean's face in response, while Sam just eyed her incredulously.

"Oh you're not going anywhere." Dean assured her. "And one way or another you will tell us the truth."

He looked at the ceiling above her head meaningfully. Annie followed his gaze to see a large circle filled with symbols that looked straight out of a satanic horror movie. Annie gasped and ducked out from underneath it with a shudder. She continued backing away until she hit a wall in the kitchenette. Dean gaped at her, then turned and smacked Sam in the arm with the back of his hand.

"What the hell, man!"

"That trap is sound, I swear!" Sam protested, "I checked it three times."

They advanced on her cautiously, fully expecting to be picked up and pinned to the wall by an invisible force at any second.

"Cristo." Dean said, trying to draw the demon out.

Annie simply stared at him and continued to tremble in the corner by the small fridge. Sam exchanged a confused look with Dean and a feeling of unease began to form in his gut.

Annie held up her hands defensively as they came closer. "Just stay away from me! My-my brother is right outside and probably on the phone with the police right now!"

Sam's eye's widened and he signaled to Dean that he was going to check it out. Dean nodded and closed the distance to Annie. She cringed away, but he grabbed her arm and forced her out of the kitchen and away from the door. Annie jerked out of his grasp and took a few stumbling steps back until she collided with a bed and sat down heavily. Sam opened the door and Tanner, who had been leaning into it with his ear pressed firmly against the wood, tumbled into the room with a yelp.

"Tanner!" Annie cried in dismay and tried to go to him, but Dean pushed her back down.

"Don't move!" He yelled.

Tanner looked up and shook the hair out of his eyes, which widened in alarm at the sight of his sister cowering on a motel bed, flanked by two armed men. Sam and Dean, for their parts, were staring at Tanner with equally shocked expressions. His dark bangs fell back down to obscure soft brown eyes that were hauntingly familiar. For a brief second, Dean thought that a 12 year old Sammy had just been blown in from the past.

"Dean," Sam began, awe-struck,"He looks just like-"

"Shapeshifter!" Dean growled and roughly pulled Tanner to his feet and shoved him towards the bed to join his sister. "Watch them." Dean barked at his brother. "Don't let either one move." Then he crossed the room to the table by the door and began rifling through his duffel bag.

Tanner was completely shaken and groped for Annie's hand.

"Annie, what's happening?"

She grasped his hand and squeezed reassuringly.

"Its just a misunderstanding Tan. It's going to be ok, but... you-you called the police, right? Are they on the way?"

Tanner shook his head miserably. "The battery's dead. I'm sorry."

Annie gulped and tried not to succumb to despair as her final hope for rescue slipped away. Sam, who had been watching the whole exchange, blinked and felt his entire perception shift. He suddenly realized that there was no supernatural threat in the room, just two children who were being terrorized out of their minds. He glanced over at Dean just in time to see him hold up a silver knife and glare murderously at Annie and Tanner.

"Shit!" Sam holstered his own knife and quickly intercepted Dean before he could take a step towards the kids and placed a restraining hand on his wrist. "Dean wait!"

Dean took one look at Sam's face and a mixture of frustration and disbelief flooded through him. "You have got to be kidding me! Do not tell me you are buying this crap!"

"No- I don't know. But what if she is telling the truth?" Sam knew this wasn't going to go over well, but it had to be said.

"She's not! Are you out of your mind? First with Ruby and now this, what's the matter with you?"

Sam frowned, but did not take the bait. "I just think we need to calm down and consider the possibility."

This suggestion had the complete opposite effect. Dean looked positively ready to explode and take out not only the suspected shapeshifters, but his idiot of a brother as well. Sam released Dean's arm and held up his hands placatingly.

"Alright, alright. Lets test them, but how about something a little less lethal?"

Dean scowled while Sam rummaged around the duffel bag. "Dude, I'm not a complete idiot. I wasn't going to over there and just kill them. I'm going to cut them a little bit first."

"_Or _you can use this instead." Sam extricated a small bundle wrapped in black cloth. He unwrapped it, pulled an object free and exchanged it with Dean for the knife. Dean held up the silver spoon and raised an eyebrow at his brother.

Sam shrugged. "Silver in any form burns a shapeshifter's skin. If that happens, then we can consider getting stabby."

"Fine." Dean replied in disgust. "But, you better cover me!"

He passed his gun to Sam, then turned towards Annie and Tanner muttering, "Freaking bleeding heart!"

Both kids tensed at Dean's approach. He zeroed in on Tanner and Annie protectively drew him closer. Dean towered over them and thrust the spoon at Tanner.

"Hold this." He ordered.

Tanner jumped and eyed the spoon warily. The benign object was so out of context with the threatening manner in which it was presented that it frightened him almost more than the weapons. Tanner shook his head and edged away. Dean grabbed the boy's wrist and Annie screamed as he forced the spoon into Tanner's hand. He expected Tanner to drop it in pain, but he simply held the spoon away from his body and looked around bewildered.

Sam cleared his throat.

"Dean..." He began, but Dean had already snatch the spoon away from Tanner and was now dousing him with a flask of holy water that he'd pulled from his pocket. Tanner sputtered in shock.

"Stop it!" Annie shrieked. Dean's actions were becoming more and more erratic and nonsensical. Being trapped with two dangerous men who had her mistaken for someone else was terrifying enough, but she now believed Dean to be completely insane as well. She felt her already slim chance of getting out of this situation in one piece dwindling.

Dean turned his attention to Annie and emptied the contents of the flask on her head. He was about to test her with the silver when Sam's hand clamped onto his arm and pulled him forcibly back.

"Dean, that's enough!"

"No Sam! They're LYING!" He shoved Sam away and pointed at the kids. "I don't care what you are, but using our father to get at us is the last mistake you will ever make!"

Annie wiped the water out of her eyes and looked from Dean to Sam.

"You're both John Winchester's sons?" She asked.

"That's right. WE are his sons." Dean replied, pointing at himself and his brother. "His only children."

"No you're not." Tanner spoke up for the first time, his voice wavering slightly. "Look, we have proof."

He reached into his back pocket, Dean tensed and reached for his gun, but all Tanner produced was the worn photograph he'd kept with him since first discovering it in the attic. He held it out towards Dean with shaking hands. Dean glowered at the kid, but took the offered photo.

"That's my dad holding Annie when she was just a baby." Tanner informed him.

Dean stared at the image for a long time and felt a new kind of outrage settle over him. He slowly lowered his hand and his fist clenched closed reflexively. Tears sprang unbidden into Annie's eyes as she watched the picture crumple in his grip.

"That's the only one we have." She protested weakly.

"It was all for her." Dean finally spoke, addressing no one in particular. "Our whole lives, the hunting and the constant moving, all of it because he lost _her_. And the whole time he was, what? Sleeping with every tramp that threw herself at him? And being freaking irresponsible about it!" He gestured at the kids, but could no longer bring himself to look directly at them.

Dean was working himself up to full-on rant now, "That son of bitch! Then he just leaves and expects us to carry on and clean up all his messes! Hell, he could have bastards spread all around the country, for all we know!"

Annie glared at the floor as her own anger began to churn and rise to the surface. The slight against her mother combined with Tanner's hurt expression at being called a bastard caused Annie's blood to boil and fear was no longer her dominant emotion.

"Hey!" Annie exploded and rocketed to her feet. "You just shut up about our mom!"

Dean was drawn out of his internal anguish by her outburst. He and Sam looked at her with surprise, as if properly seeing her for the first time.

"Ok, so our mom was fertile and your dad was a giant horn dog, so what? What makes you more entitled to exist than us? Screw you both!" She raged on, "Everyone was right about John Winchester, he's nothing more than a scumbag criminal and we're _lucky_ to have not been raised by him or we might have turned into a couple of psychopaths, just like YOU!" She concluded, jabbing her finger angrily at Dean on the last word.

Sam and Tanner observed this tirade with shock that bordered on admiration, but Dean's face had turned stony.

"You need to watch what you say about my dad." He warned, "You're treading on dangerous ground and you don't know what you're talking about."

Annie took a step forward and matched his glare with an identical one of her own. All the while, she prayed that he couldn't see her knees shaking or hear the pounding of her heart. Annie's anger had a habit of burning bright, then quickly fading away and fear was reclaiming its rightful place of dominance. She ignored her treasonous emotions, she couldn't back down now that she had their attention. Annie balled her hands into fists, ready to fight if it came to that. This entire evening had turned into a big sister fail of epic proportions. She had gotten them into this mess and it was up to her to get them back out.

"Whatever." She spat and stared up at Dean defiantly. "We're leaving now. Coming here was a mistake."

Annie grasped Tanner's arm and pulled him to his feet, never breaking eye contact with Dean. Despite her bravado, Annie was fully aware that she and Tanner would not be going anywhere if the brothers wanted to stop them. Dean was standing between her and the door and for one heart stopping moment she thought that he was not going to move.

"You're right, it was a mistake to come here." Dean responded coldly. He stepped aside and added, "Go back home to you're mother and quit chasing after fairy tales."

"Wait," Sam protested, "we can't just let them leave."

"Sam!" Dean's voice held a warning that left no room for further argument.

Sam frown deeply, but closed his mouth and watched Annie scurry towards the door, pushing Tanner ahead of her. Tanner wrenched it open and the kids dashed out into the night.

Sam crossed the room to the window and drew the curtain aside in time to see the purple car start up and back out of the parking space. He quickly memorized the license plate before the car peeled out of the lot and disappeared down the road. He let the curtain fall and looked at Dean, who was standing in the center of the room staring into the empty space before him.

"Did she even look old enough to drive to you?" Sam asked worriedly.

Dean turned towards his brother and sighed, "I don't know. Who can tell? Teenagers never look old enough to drive to me."

"Dean, I don't think we should have let them leave like that."

Dean rubbed a hand over his face, looking suddenly tired. "And what do you suggest Sammy? We continue to hold them here against their will? We just got free from all of the warrants on our heads and a lot of good people had to die in the process. I think we've got enough on our plates without starting all over with kidnapping charges, don't you?"

"Of course, but those kids... they're our brother and sister." He paused. Once spoken aloud, the words sounded so surreal, he needed a moment to let it sink in.

"Exactly Sam! They're kids. Stupid, _normal_ kids and they're going to stay that way. Do you want to welcome them into the family, spend holidays together, train them up to hunt? You think they'd even last a year as Winchesters before getting killed or corrupted? No, they're better off staying as far away from us as possible."

Sam caught the barely veiled jab at the grey line he'd been towing with Ruby, but he swallowed back his hurt and frustration and stayed focused on the topic at hand.

"That's not what I'm saying. I just... I want to know more about them. You can't tell me you don't."

"No, I definitely do." Dean agreed and pulled an object out of his jacket pocket and tossed it to Sam. "So grab your computer and start finding stuff out."

Sam looked down at the wallet he had just caught, it was bright blue and covered in shiny multi-colored stars. He arched his eyebrows at Dean.

"You stole that girl's wallet?"

"Oh don't give me that look. We'll mail it back when we're done."

Sam shook his head with mild disapproval, opened the wallet, pulled out Annie's ID and swore.

"A learner's permit, I knew it! She shouldn't be driving Dean. We have to go after them."

Dean was not moved. "They made here just fine, they'll make it back. Besides, its not like I never drove us around before I got my license."

"That you did." Sam agreed, "And in a stolen car no less."

"Oh yeah." A smug grin flashed across his face at the memory.

The grin faded as he wondered if his younger siblings were driving around a in stolen car as well. Dean grabbed the car keys off the table and headed towards the door.

"Where are you going?"

"I need a beer. Just work your research mojo. I'll be back in a few minutes."

"This is a dry county, remember?"

Dean paused with his hand on the doorknob, then closed the door with a solid thump. "Sonofabitch!"

He then proceeded to pace restlessly around the room while Sam dug up everything he could find on the Finnigins.

/*****/

It took every ounce of concentration for Annie to control her shaking limbs and keep the car going down the road in a straight line. All she wanted to do was pull over and collapse into a puddle of tears, but she couldn't afford the luxury of a breakdown right now. All that mattered was getting her brother back home safely. Tanner hadn't spoken a word since they left the motel, he just stared out the window, looking pale and withdrawn. The sight of him made Annie's heart ache. It felt a like a life time, but only thirty minutes ago he had been sitting in that very seat, practically giddy with excitement at the idea of having an older brother. She knew his current condition was all her fault, everything from the build up of the past few days to the crushing blow of actually meeting their brothers. All she had to do when Tanner first brought up the idea of searching for their father was obey her mother's wishes and deny that she knew his name and none of this would have ever happened.

The car pulled up to an intersection and Annie turned down the narrow, forested road that would take them back home. The sun was almost completely below the horizon and what little daylight remained was blotted out by the overhanging tree limbs. Annie flipped the headlights to high beams and jumped as Tanner finally broke the silence.

"I hate those guys." He muttered darkly.

Annie glanced at him worriedly.

"They are the worst." She agreed, but added with forced optimism, "But you know what? We're better off knowing the truth. Now we won't waste one more second of our lives thinking about dad and imagining how great he and our older brothers must be."

Tanner didn't reply, he simply sighed and continued gazing at the dark trees as they blurred past the window. He was pretty sure that he would have preferred to keep his fantasies. Tanner suddenly bolted upright in his seat as the engine emitted a loud ominous cough and the car shuddered violently.

"What was that?"

"I don't know!" Annie searched the dashboard to see if any indicator lights were flashing.

Another violent spasm racked the car and this time the engine cut off completely. Annie's heart thudded in her throat as she turned the wheel and the vehicle coasted onto the grassy shoulder of the road and came to a stop. She turned the key without much hope and got no response. Disheartened, she dropped her hands down to the her sides and let her head droop against the steering. Her eyes fell on the gas gauge and she felt her heart plummet into her stomach.

Annie sat up and whispered in horror, "Oh my God."

"What?" Tanner leaned over to see what she was looking at.

"...Out of gas?" He asked slowly, then repeated with an edge of hysteria, "Out of gas! How can we be out of gas? We passed, like, 20 gas stations today, why didn't you stop?"

Annie waved her hands about helplessly. "I don't know! I never had to buy gas before, Mom always does it. I just didn't think about it."

"You didn't think about it?" He shouted incredulously, "You are the worst driver in the world!"

"I am not! Just, don't yell at me right now Tanner, I'm trying to think of a way out of this."

Tanner flopped against the seat and ran his hands through his hair. "There is no way out of this. We are in the middle of nowhere with no phone and nobody has any idea where we are! The school is going to call Mom when we don't show up tomorrow, oh God!"

He was on the verge of a full on freak out, but a plan flashed into Annie's head and she tried to talk him back down.

"No! It's ok, I just remembered there is a gas can in the trunk. We've got plenty of cash. All we have to do walk back to the gas station in town. It will take awhile." She admitted, "But I know we can do this and still get home in time to make the bus in the morning. Mom never has to know!"

Annie grabbed a flashlight out of the center console and got out of the car. Tanner groaned doubtfully, but followed her lead and rolled out of the passenger seat. She headed towards the trunk and reached for the zippered pocket of her sweatshirt, only to find it unzipped and empty. She stopped dead in her tracks and searched through all of her pockets uncomprehendingly, then froze as realization dawned on her.

"That...ASSHOLE stole my wallet!" She screamed.

Tanner, who was still standing by the passenger door, tore his gaze away from the hood of the car with a start. Annie never said swear words.

"Which asshole?"

"Does it matter? We have no money." Annie told him defeatedly.

Tanner absorbed this new information with a sort of numbness that he welcomed. He thought he was beginning to get a handle on this day. Really awful things were going to keep happening to them and there was nothing he could do about. Once he accepted this, he realized that he just needed to roll with the punches and hope that when the sun came up tomorrow the world would be a place he could recognize again.

Tanner sighed and tried alleviate some of the guilt that was etched all over Annie's face. "You know, I think the empty gas tank is the least of our problems anyway."

He gestured for her to follow him to the front of the car, where steam was billowing out from under the hood with an angry hissing sound. Tanner took off his sweatshirt and used it to shield his hands as he popped the hood open. He jumped back and gasped at the sight of the engine. Wires were shredded and poking in every direction, metal parts were dislodged and laying in disorganized heaps. Annie clapped her hand to her mouth, mortified.

"Oh no!" She lowered her hand, "I swear I had no idea driving without gas would make the engine explode!"

Tanner snorted, then realized she was serious.

"Annie, it doesn't! That" He pointed at the engine, "makes no sense."

"So, that isn't my fault?"

"I don't see how it could be."

"Well, at least there's one thing that isn't." She replied, ruefully.

Tanner frowned and nudged her lightly.

"Come on, none of what happened tonight is your fault. Well, maybe running out of gas, but none of the other stuff."

Annie chuckled humorlessly, but offered her brother a small smile of gratitude. "Thanks Tan."

She looked back at the pulverized engine and came to a decision.

"Look Tanner, I think it's time to throw in the towel. Lets just walk back to town, find a phone, call Mom and tell her what we've done. She'll have to fly back from her conference and murder me, but at least we can just go home and this can all be over."

Tanner nodded his agreement, but cringed inwardly. That was a phone call he was not at all looking forward to making. He shrugged his sweatshirt back on and the two set off down the road. They had walked barely more than a few yards when a rasping, disembodied voice floated out of the darkness.

"You kids lost?"

They both started violently and grabbed on to each other's shirts. Annie followed the source of the voice and peered into the darkened forest on the left side of the road. She thought she saw a figure in the shadows, but it flickered and disappeared. She blinked a few times and assumed that the darkness was playing tricks with her eyes.

"You don't belong here. These woods are mine!" The voice chimed in again, this time from the opposite side of the road.

Annie and Tanner yelled and spun around. Annie shined the flashlight in the direction of the voice and illuminated an impossible nightmare. 'Walking corpse' were the words that flashed through her mind. The man standing at the edge of the trees was peering at them through a copse of facial hair with red-rimmed eyes that were full of malice. His skin was a mottled, sickly gray color and there was a thick, dark liquid pooling out of his left ear. He took one step towards them, then his whole body flickered briefly and was he suddenly standing in the middle of the road.

"Oh." Annie said mildly, "Well that's not real."

Clearly the stress of the evening had finally caused her mind snap.

"That's real." Tanner tugged on her sleeve urgently and began backing away. "Annie, that's real!"

"Where are you going?" The impossible man inquired. He flickered again and reappeared no more than five feet from the frightened siblings.

"Annie RUN!"

Tanner's shout jolted her into action. Annie turned and fled with her brother into the forest.


	5. Chapter 5

_I have to apologize, I got so excited to post the last chapter that I forgot to thank all you awesome reviewers. I really do appreciate your comments! You guys say such nice things I can hardly believe it! I'll do my best to not let you down._

_Now, on with the story._

/*****/

How long had they been running? It could have been ten minutes or an hour, the only certainty was that Annie and Tanner could not shake the dead-eyed man. So many times they seemed to have finally evaded him, only to look back and discover he was still right behind them once again, shrieking insults with inhuman malevolence. As they raced deeper into the forest, Annie felt a terrible foreboding that the man's appearances were not random, but rather he was herding them towards a specific destination. To stop running, however, felt like an act of suicide and was simply not an option, so they ran, oblivious to the branches that swatted their faces or the spider webs that tangled in their hair.

As a toddler, Tanner had seen no point in learning to walk, he simply exited the crawling phase at a dead sprint and never really slowed down since. This had served him well over the years, as annoying Annie was typically one of his favorite past times, for which being able to outrun her was essential. Now, however, he repeatedly cast anxious glances over his shoulder to ensure that she did not fall too far behind. As he locked terrified eyes with Annie, Tanner tripped over an exposed root and nearly lost his balance. Annie reached out to steady him, then gave him an encouraging shove.

"Tanner, don't slow down for me. Just run!"

Tanner did as she said and released an extra burst of speed to leap into a dry creek bed and scramble up the other side. Moist earth crumbled beneath his grip, but he hauled himself up the bank and ran on. The decayed remains of an ancient cabin loomed out of the darkness and Tanner changed direction mid-stride to skirt around it. He hazarded another glance behind him to make sure Annie was following and saw nothing but trees and empty space. As he skidded to a halt, Tanner's shoes slipped on the wet leaves that coated the forest floor and he crashed to the ground. Jagged stones dug into his palms, but Tanner ignored the sting and scrambled to his feet, feeling as if his heart was about to explode.

"Annie!" He called. She had been right behind him mere seconds ago, surely she was somewhere just beyond his line of sight.

There was no response. He quickly pushed through the underbrush, retracing his steps, and shouted her name again, his voice increasing in volume and desperation. The creek bed came back into view, but still there was no sign of Annie anywhere. Tanner began to breath in quick, painful gasps as he twisted around, searching for her in every direction. The monster had taken her, of this he was certain, but how had it made her disappear so suddenly and completely? Where was she? What was happening to her? Was she hurt, or dead even? These questions tumbled endlessly in his mind and he began to wish that the monster would come for him too, just so he could have the answers. Panic systematically shut down each one of Tanner's senses and he stumbled blindly through the forest, screaming for his sister at the top of his lungs.

/*****/

Dean was beginning to wear a path in the motel's mud brown carpet as Sam tossed the last of his belongings into his duffel bag. Sam had downloaded every record he could quickly find on Annie Finnigin and her family and planned to review them in the car, seeing as he and Dean were eager to finish the job and get out of town. Those kids were more than likely going to report what had happened that evening and it was only a matter of time before the authorities showed up at the motel asking questions. They did not want to be around when that happened.

Sam zipped up his bag and headed towards the door, pausing at the last second to grab the wilting bouquet of flowers off the floor. Dean's name was on the card and they couldn't leave that kind of evidence behind. He didn't know his kid sister at all, but was struck by some of the glaring Winchester traits that she'd displayed in such a short time. She'd tracked them down and brazenly knocked on the door, hiding behind some silly disguise just to get the answers she was searching for, much like he and Dean did almost every day. Sure, the execution had been sloppy, but Sam didn't get impression that she did this sort of thing on a regular basis and hopefully she never would. They had proven just how dangerous that kind of activity could be. Sam felt sick when he recalled how close he had come to slitting his own sister's throat while she stared right at him, her eyes filled with fear and confusion. He tried to push it out of his mind and focus on the hunt as he headed out to load the car.

Dean was about to follow his brother, but did one last sweep of the room and his eyes fell on the crumpled photograph lying near the foot of the bed. He retrieved it from the floor, smoothed it out and studied the image again, feeling guilty. He hadn't meant to wreck the picture and didn't even really remember doing it.

"What were you thinking Dad?" He asked quietly and felt an ache in his chest as he realized that he would probably never know.

Dean pulled a Sharpie out of his front pocket and wrote one word on the back of the picture, before tucking it into Annie's wallet. Then he grabbed his gear off of the bed and walked out door.

Sam pulled out his laptop as Dean drove the Impala out of the parking lot and began reading the highlights aloud.

"Annabelle Finnigin was born on May 5th, 1992. Nine months before that, Linda Finnigin had recently been appointed as the deputy coroner for Bucks County and was working her first case in the Nockamixon State Park. People were disappearing from their campsites and their mutilated bodies would turn up days later and she determined that they had been tortured for days before finally having their throats torn out. But listen to this: Linda was abducted while re-examining one of the crime scenes and was missing for nearly 24 hours before she eventually just walked into the police station on her own. She was a little roughed up and told a story about fighting off her abductor, knocking him unconscious and seeing his body fall into Lake Nockamixon and hitchhiking her way back into town. The lake was dredged, but no body was ever found; probably because he never existed."

Sam flipped his dad's journal open to the relevant date and nodded his confirmation.

"And wouldn't you know it, dad bagged himself a couple of harpies in Nockamixon around that same time."

Dean grimaced. "Ugh, harpies! I hate those nasty, shrill little bitches."

Sam agreed, "Yeah. Well, I guess you can imagine how Annie came into existence. Dad saves the life of a hot, young coroner and the hot, young coroner is grateful. One the leads to another..."

Dean shifted uncomfortably in his seat and Sam looked at him with wry amusement.

"I would think you could relate, I mean how many damsels in distress have you banged in your lifetime?"

"Dude! Stop talking about Dad-sex, you're creeping me out."

Sam chuckled and returned to the documents on his computer.

"Lets see, Tanner Finnigin was born on September 20, 1995 and nine months before that..." Sam consulted the journal again, "Dad did a salt and burn in Elmira, New York. I guess he must have stopped to visit his other family along the way."

Sam was unable to keep an edge of bitterness out of his voice as he imagined himself and Dean holed up in some low rate motel while his dad ran off and played house.

Dean turned the Impala down the cursed road that would lead them to Edwin Morris's grave site, then cleared his throat and asked, "What about Annie and Tanner? Anything... unusual about them?"

Sam knew what he was asking and shook his head.

"Nothing stands out, no house fires when they were babies or anything. You were right, as far as I can tell, they're just a couple of normal kids. Annie consistently makes the A/B honor roll and Tanner's little league team went to state a couple years back, that's about all I could find on them."

Sam studied the group photo that accompanied the article on the little league team's accomplishments.

"I still can't get over how much that kid looks just like me, it kind of freaks me out." Sam commented.

Unable to pass up a chance to get in a dig at his brother, Dean replied, "Just imagine how he must have felt when he saw your face and realized that his looks were never going to improve."

Sam snorted, "Whatever, Annie's the one I feel sorry for. I never imagined God could be so cruel as to curse an innocent young girl with your ugly mug."

"What?" Dean scoffed, "She looks nothing like me."

"Are you serious? After you called her mom a tramp, I thought I was looking a short-," Sam paused, then emphasized, "-_er_ you that some one had slapped a curly wig on."

Dean started to protest further, but then thought about it and realized there had been a bit of a resemblance and changed course.

"Well she should be so lucky." He gestured at his face, "These are classic features that would look stunning on any man, woman or child."

Sam shook his head with a grin and looked out the windshield in time to see the Impala's headlights bounce off of the reflective tail lights of a broken down car in the distance.

"Oh, what the hell?" Dean muttered, "Another one? Damnit!"

A cloud of dread descended over Sam and as they drew close enough that the license plate came into focus, his fears were confirmed.

"Dean," He said tightly, "That's their car!"

"What? Are you sure?" One look at Sam's face and Dean knew he was. "Why the hell are they out here when the interstate runs right past our hotel?"

"I don't know."

Dean pulled off the road near the Neon and slammed on the brakes, kicking up clods of dirt and grass. The Impala doors popped open and the brothers dove out and ran to investigate the abandoned car. Annie and Tanner were no where to be seen and Sam was stricken by the sight of a flashlight lying in the road several yards beyond the trunk of the car, shining uselessly into the forest. Dean cursed when he saw the condition of the engine.

"Just like all of the others. This is definitely Morris's handywork."

Rage and worry swirled around within Dean to create a lethal combination. He did not just learn about the existence of his two younger siblings, only to lose them to an evil abomination in the same evening. If anything happened to them, he would find a way to make sure Edwin Morris suffered before sending his spirit straight to Hell. Dean stalked back to his car to collect his gun and several salt rounds and as he slammed the trunk closed, Sam reached out and grabbed his arm.

"Did you hear that?"

Dean was about to say 'Hear what?', when a faint noise floated out from the depth of the forest. His blood ran cold when he recognized it as the sound of a child screaming.

Like sprinters reacting to a starter pistol, the brothers dashed through the trees, running straight towards the source of the screams. They were determined to reach Annie and Tanner before the kids, like so many others on this cursed stretch of road, disappeared forever.

/*****/

It happened so fast that Annie had trouble piecing it all together. She had been following Tanner across the empty creek when, without warning, she found herself flat on her back with the ground flying beneath her. Then she was choking as loose dirt pressed down on her from all sides. When the dirt finally fell away, she coughed up a mouthful of mud and gulped in some clear air and an ice cold hand clamped over her arms pinning them together. It quickly released its grip, but she was left with a painful pressure around her wrists and she realized that they had been bound together with rough twine. This all occurred within within a matter of seconds, before Annie even had a chance to scream.

For a long time afterward, Annie stayed perfectly still with her knees drawn to her chest and her back pressed against a damp, earthen wall. The Impossible Man had deposited her into an abyss of utter darkness and she was terrified that he was still somewhere close by, staring at her with his malignant eyes. Eventually, the suspense and stifling silence became more than she could bear and Annie had to assess her situation before she lost her mind.

"Are you still there?" She asked quietly.

Annie cringed as she awaited a response, but none came. Using the wall for support, she slowly stood up and shuffled along it sideways, her bound hands groping blindly ahead of her. She stumbled on some loose rocks that littered the ground beneath her feet, but it didn't take long to navigate the circumference of the small pit, for that is what it was, and determine that she was, in fact, alone. Additionally, while feeling along the dirt walls she had discovered no openings of any sort. Annie was hit by the realization that she had been buried alive and piercing, hysterical screams finally tore their way out of her throat. She couldn't keep it up for long, however, because she didn't believe that anyone could hear her and being trapped underground with only the sound of her own screaming felt like the quickest route towards insanity.

Annie settled into a quiet whimper and sank down the wall until she was sitting with her arms covering her head and rested them on her knees. She rocked herself gently and a random memory suddenly popped into her brain. A few months after Tanner had been born, Linda grew concerned that Annie was feeling overlooked and neglected due to the new baby in the house. Annie was deep in a cowgirl phase at the time and Linda spontaneously decided to teach her how to line dance. She dug through her cd collection and pulled out the closest thing she could find to a country album - Lynyrd Skynyrd. Linda didn't actually know the first thing about line dancing, but she gamely made up a series of kicks and steps and Annie had been thrilled, giggling endlessly and memorizing each dance move. When "Gimme Three Steps" came on Annie thought it was the funniest song she had ever heard and proceded to spend the better portion of her early childhood wearing the cd out.

Without even being fully aware of it, Annie began to to sing quietly, taking comfort in the long gone happy memory. "I was cutting a rug down at a place called The Jug with a girl named Linda Lou..."

Annie's last conscious thought before she retreated completely inside herself was of Tanner. She prayed that while the Impossible Man was busy entombing her in this pit Tanner had found a way to escape back to civilization.

/*****/

Tanner had lost all sense of time and direction, but he continued to push himself forward even as the forest understory grew more dense and branches scratched his skin and tore at his clothes. Somewhere in the back of his mind Tanner knew that he was hopelessly lost and would most likely never find his way out, never see Annie again, but still he called for her. There was nothing else to do.

Tanner struggled through a thick patch of shrubs and was nearly clear when a barbed vine snagged around his ankle and brought him up short. He jerked his leg free and broke into a stumbling run just as a large figure stepped out from behind a tree directly in his path. Tanner had no time to slow down or alter his direction and was quite shocked to crash into the solid chest of a living person. He had been certain that the monster had finally returned to deliver him to the same fate as his sister. Tanner fell and landed hard on his back, knocking the wind out of himself. As he fought for breath, another figure emerged from the shadows, knelt down and reached out a hand towards him. The glow from a flashlight illuminated the faces of the newcomers and Tanner recognized the two men from the motel with horror. He scuttled backwards on his hands and feet until he bumped up against the trunk of a large, fallen tree. Tanner wheezed painfully with one hand on his chest and felt cornered. He saw the tall one's lips moving and realized that he must be asking a question, but Tanner couldn't register any of the words. New questions of his own dove into Tanner's brain and rolled around with the ones about Annie. Why on earth had the brothers followed them out into the woods and did they realize there would soon be a monster stalking them? He doubted it.

Some words finally filtered through Tanner's fog of terror.

"...not going to hurt you. Can you tell us where your sister is?" The tall one - Sam, he suddenly remembered, was asking.

Tanner furrowed his brow and blinked at them uncomprehendingly for a second before answering.

"I don't know. The monster took her and I can't find her anywhere." His voice was hoarse from all of the yelling, "...will you help us?" The question just fell out and was a testament to just how desperate Tanner was feeling. These were the last people on earth he would have ever expected to come to his rescue, but there was no one else around to ask.

The hopelessness in Tanner's voice hit Dean like a punch in the gut. The kid looked so much like Sammy and the sight of him beaten and terrified tore him up inside.

"Yeah, we'll help you kid." Dean replied "Can you tell me where you were when it took her?"

Guilt overshadowed Tanner's surprise that his story about the monster was so readily believed. He had gotten completely turned around and had no clue which direction he had been running.

"I don't know. I-I got really lost after she disappeared" Tanner replied thickly, tears welling up in his eyes.

Sam knelt down and spoke gently, "Hey that's ok. Just try to think about where you were right before she disappeared. Was there any type of landmark nearby that you can remember?"

"Hey, yeah! There was this old, fallen down shack or something, right next to a dried up creek."

"Morris's place." Dean said grimly. He and Sam had scoped it out early in the investigation, hoping to find some trace of the missing victims, but had come up empty. "He's gotta have her stashed somewhere around there."

"Annie's in that shack?" Tanner asked hollowly. He felt so stupid, he just ran off and never even thought to look for her there.

"Dean, we already checked it out, there was nothing there." Sam pointed out.

"Well we missed something!" Dean snapped, "You take the kid and go put Morris down, I'm going to go get Annie."

"Wait!" Tanner jumped to his feet, "I'm coming with you!"

"No," Dean responded gruffly, "You'll be safer if you stay with Sam."

Tanner didn't give a damn about safer, he wanted his sister. He made as if to follow Dean who had already jogged off into the woods, but Sam caught his arm and held him back. Tanner was outraged and struggled with everything he had, lashing out with surprisingly powerful punches and kicks, but Sam calmly absorbed each blow without loosening his grip.

"Tanner, Dean will get her back," Sam tried to reassure him, "But he's right, you can help her more if you stick with me. We're going to put a stop to the thing that took her."

Tanner stilled at Sam's words and slowly looked up and stared fiercely into his older brother's eyes.

"Do you swear she'll be ok?"

Sam swore that she would and prayed that he wasn't lying.

/*****/

_I know that was a bit of a wait between chapters. I'm a slow writer, but I promise I'll keep plugging away at it and get new ones out as soon as possible._

_***11/17/10 - I just edited this chapter a bit to fix some grammer and to flush out the background on how Linda met John. Still working on the next chapter and hope to have up before too long****_


	6. Chapter 6

_Whew! I finally finished chapter 6, please enjoy! Once again, thank you to everyone who has taken an interest in this story and especially to you cool reviewers for all of your questions and enthusiasm and patience, you guys rock! Special thanks to my bff for proof-reading this chapter, you've got mad editing skillz!_

/*****/

A frustrated yell echoed through the darkened forest as Dean slammed his fist against the rotten wooden beam that barely supported the slanting porch roof of Morris's cabin. He had not wanted to admit it, but Sam had been right; their earlier search for missing victims had been thorough and his second investigation yielded no different results. There was absolutely no indication that Annie or anyone else had been brought to the cabin. Feeling helpless, an emotion he abhorred, and with no clue as to how he was going to find Annie, Dean shoved away from the porch and began to walk around the perimeter of the building.

He focused on the steady rhythm of the leaves crunching beneath his boots and tried not to think about the implications of the missing girl as he swept the flashlight along the ground. All evidence indicated that John really had fathered two more children; a brother and sister who, in the wake of his death and the absence of the kid's mother, now fell under Dean's responsibility to look after and already he was failing. While his father's betrayal stung, there was little question in Dean's mind that he would do whatever it took to keep Annie and Tanner safe, just as he would Sam. It was an extra burden that he'd neither expected nor wanted, but would never turn away from. Besides, nothing in life had turned out the way Dean expected or wanted so far, why should now be any different?

The back of the cabin butted up against the creek that Tanner had described and as Dean moved along the edge, his flashlight glinted off a brightly colored object lying abandoned at the bottom of a steep bank. Dean quickly slid down the embankment and retrieved a small, blue sneaker with glittery piping that could not have belonged to anyone other than a teenage girl. Ground disturbance surrounding the site of sneaker abandonment suggested that a body had been dragged from the spot and Dean followed the trail down the center of the creek. The newly discovered evidence was disturbing, but Dean was filled with a sense of purpose that had been lacking in his earlier haphazard search and he did not have to travel far before the trail ended abruptly near a rock outcropping set into the side of the creek.

"Damn." Dean muttered and swept the flashlight across the ground and up the side of the banks to see if the trail picked up elsewhere.

In that moment, a persistent breeze that had been winding through the forest, rustling branches and stirring up leaves, briefly died down and a barely audible whimper reached Dean's ears, then was quickly drowned out again by the returning winds. He froze and strained to hear a follow-up sound, uncertain where the first had originated and unconvinced that he hadn't simply imagined it. After several tense seconds, the air settled once more and the whimpering again filtered through the background noises. It had an oddly familiar cadence and as Dean carefully traced its source, the sound began to solidify and form recognizable words when he neared the rock outcropping.

"I know you don't owe me but I wish you would let me ask one favor from you." A faint voice echoed morosely, "Oh won't you gimme three steps, gimme three steps mister..."

As he listened to her butcher Skynyrd's Gimme Three Steps with off-key, wavering singing, Dean felt a grudging appreciation for his half-sister begin to form; at least she had good taste in her self-soothing song selection. In fact, this was probably the best version of the song he had ever heard in his life, because it meant that Annie was somewhere nearby and still alive. He pulled aside the thick vines that obscured the area beyond the over-hanging rock shelf and found a small, cave-like shelter with a narrow hole set into the ground near the back. Dean entered the cave and aimed his light down into the hole, revealing a dark, cramped tunnel that disappeared into the earth and was the unmistakable source of the pitiful singing. Dean scrutinized the tunnel and noted with displeasure that it was barely wide enough for him to fit through and if he should encounter Morris along the way, it was going to be extremely difficult to put up a fight without injuring himself or possibly Annie in the process. He silently cursed his younger brother, who once again had landed a cake babysitting job, while Dean was the the one stuck crawling into a dank, dirty hole in the ground.

"Oh, this is really going to suck." Dean said before shimmying head-first down into the tunnel.

/*****/

Tanner had never experienced such relief in his life than when he finally stepped out of the forest and felt hard pavement under his feet again. It seemed as though air flowed more easily into his lungs without the constant, crushing presence of plants obstructing his view and hindering his movements. Sam emerged from the forest beside him and moved swiftly down the road towards the two cars still parked on the grassy shoulder. Tanner stuck close to his side, glancing around anxiously for a reappearance of the monster and only slowed his pace when they approached the Dodge Neon. A lump formed in Tanner's throat when he peered inside and saw the food wrappers and cd cases still scattered haphazardly around the interior, remnants from when the roadtrip had been exciting and fun, before it turned into this seemingly endless nightmare.

The sound of a trunk latch popping open drew Tanner out of his reverie and he quickened his steps to join Sam at the rear of the Impala. Tanner took a look inside and felt a strange, mixed reaction to the sight of the massive collection of weapons and supernatural artifacts inside the trunk of the classic car. The Y chromosome within him felt that this was the most badass thing he had ever seen, while the scared kid who still vividly recalled the events in the motel room was deeply unnerved. Sam extracted a heavy and weathered backpack, along with a shotgun and shovel, then dropped the lid closed, shouldered the pack and offered the shovel to Tanner.

"Can you carry this?"

Tanner accepted the tool and nodded numbly.

"Ok, good. Come on, its this way." Sam jogged down the road, in the opposite direction from which they'd come.

He was in such a rush to destroy Edwin Morris that Sam had yet to take the time to explain exactly where they were going or what they were going to do when they got there. The small amount of trust that Tanner had placed in his older brother had been steadily evaporating and very little remained by the time Sam abruptly turned off the road and started down a winding, overgrown path through the woods. Tight bands constricted around Tanner's chest as he approached the wooded entrance and he found himself unable to step off of the pavement. Following Sam no longer felt like a good idea, but he also had no desire to be left alone in the dark to face the monster on his own, should it return.

"Um..." Tanner began, uncertainly.

Sam turned around at the sound of Tanner's hesitation and found the boy frozen in place at the trail head.

"Tanner, what's wrong?"

Tanner frowned at the shovel in his hand and told him, "I'm having second thoughts."

"Ok," Sam replied cautiously, "About what?"

There was no sense in beating around the bush, so Tanner answered, "About following you into the woods with a shotgun and a shovel. I can't shake the feeling that you're about to make me dig my own grave then put a bullet in my head."

Sam was taken aback, but with the first impression he'd made it wasn't exactly as if he couldn't understand where Tanner was coming from. He started to walk back towards the road, but stopped when Tanner took a step back and shifted the shovel in his hands so that it could be easily swung as a defensive weapon.

"Alright." Sam held up a hand to indicate he wasn't a threat and set down his gun. "Listen, I know we scared you back at the motel, but your sister was right when she told you that it was all a misunderstanding. We really did think you were someone else at first."

Tanner narrowed his eyes. "That was a pretty big overreaction for a simple misunderstanding, don't you think?"

"I know and I'm sorry. I know we looked like crazy people back there but we have our reasons for reacting that way."

"Like what?" Tanner recalled the spoon incident and couldn't fathom any sane reasoning behind it.

Sam could feel time slipping by and knew that every second they stood around talking was time Morris could be using to harm Dean and Annie.

"Look, I can explain everything, but we really need to keep moving." Sam gestured, somewhat impatiently, towards the path behind him.

Tanner shook his head stubbornly, "Just explain it now, okay?"

Tanner set his jaw in determination and tried to appear tough, but he was unsuccessful at hiding the fear in his eyes and Sam could see that the only way he was going to get the kid to budge from that spot was to either forcibly drag him to the cemetery or give in and take the time to clear the air. Since irreversibly traumatizing his little brother any further was not an appealing option and bruises were already beginning to form from the last time he tussled with the kid, Sam sighed and gave in.

"Ok." Sam ran a hand through his hair, thinking of the best way to start, "So, you know the thing that took Annie isn't human, right?"

Tanner nodded somberly. "Yeah, its a ghost or something, but how do _you _know that?"

Sam regarded Tanner with a look of regret, knowing his next words were going to take away everything the kid knew to be safe and real in this world.

"Because it's the reason Dean and I came to this town, we're here to put a stop to it; it's what we do. Anytime we hear reports about strange attacks or disappearances, we have to go find out if it was caused by something unnatural and evil. You see, its not just ghosts out there preying on people, there are lots of other... _things _that exist in the world and Dean and I have pretty much spent our whole lives hunting down and killing every one of them that we can find. But lately, some of those things have started to hunt us back and many of them can disguise themselves to look human, like people we might trust and unfortunately, that makes it difficult for us to trust anybody. You and Annie paid the price for that and I'm sorry."

It felt as though the world had slowed spinning on its axis as Tanner worked to process the chunk of information that had just been unloaded on him.

"So... the weirdness with the spoon and the water...?"

"Shapeshifters are burned by silver and holy water is agony for demons." Sam answered without hesitation, "And that shovel isn't for you, we need it to destroy the ghost that took Annie."

As Sam explained the art of banishing angry spirits, Tanner cast his eyes down and took a deep breath, then let it out slowly and thought hard about everything Sam was telling him. If someone had tried to spin such a story on any other day, Tanner would have been highly insulted and informed them that he was, in fact, twelve years old and not some gullible little kid, but after everything he'd seen tonight nothing seemed impossible anymore. Not only was the explanation plausible, but it was exactly the type of thing Tanner desperately wanted to believe, that his older brothers were not really crazies who hated him for being born, but they were some kind of monster-killing super heroes of all things! The invisible bands around Tanner's chest began to loosen.

"The bones of the man who took Annie are buried at the top of this hill." Sam concluded, watching Tanner worriedly. "Please come with me and let's put an end to this."

Tanner hadn't visibly reacted to any of his words and Sam was preparing for the terrible possibility that he may have to wrestle the kid up the path after all. Instead, Tanner caught him off guard by lifting his head to reveal a shy, half-grin fixed to his face.

Tanner peered through his ever-present bangs, tightened his grip on the shovel and said, "Ok, I'm in. Let's go dig up the dirtbag who took my sister and make him sorry he was ever born!... or died, or whatever."

Sam huffed a small, surprised laugh as Tanner bounded up the path, then came to a stop in front of him. Slightly dazed by how quickly the kid's demeanor towards him had taken a complete 180, Sam didn't move for a second as he gave Tanner an appraising look and Tanner regarded him quizzically.

"Come on! Are we gonna do this or what?" Tanner asked, eagerly.

Sam shook off the mild stupor and grinned down at his little brother, "Yeah man, we're going."

Sam scooped up the shotgun from the forest floor and the two hustled along the trail to reach the cemetery and save their respective older siblings by destroying Edwin Morris's spirit once and for all.

/*****/

'_... with a girl name Linda Lou, when in walked a man with a gun in his hand and he was lookin' for you know who..._' The words floated out of the stereo speakers on the smooth back of an electric guitar.

"Linda Lou!" Three-year old Annie squealed with delight, "Mama, is this song about you?"

Linda stomped her foot, side-stepped twice and lied playfully, "It sure is baby and that was one exciting night, let me tell you!"

'_... I said wait a minute mister, I didn't even kiss her! Don't want no trouble with you..._'

Annie mimicked the new dance step and with an awe-filled voice asked, "Who was that man? He had a gun, weren't you scared?"

"Scared of silly old Ray? Not me! He was just some goober who got it in his head that I should be his girlfriend, but everyone knew he was all bark and no bite." Linda elaborated on her lie, "Besides, he never kept that gun loaded, so I wasn't scared, but I sure was mad!"

Linda shimmied forward three steps and clapped her hands together.

'_... Gimme three steps, Gimme three steps mister, gimme three steps towards the door..._'

"Mad because he scared away the man you were dancing with?" Annie asked and clapped her hands together too.

Pain flared up briefly in her wrists. Little Annie looked at her hands with a frown and was baffled to discover that they were caked with mud. '_When did I get so dirty?_' She wondered, but the sound of her mother's voice continuing with the story cut through Annie's confusion and the thought was quickly derailed.

"That's right. He chased Ronnie away and ruined my one shot at becoming Mrs. Van Zant. Boy I let old Ray have it after that, you better believe it. But things worked out pretty well for me in the end, because now I have a whole song written about me on one of the best selling rock albums of all time."

Annie grinned at her mother with open admiration as she hopped backward, then kicked up her heal, "Wow Mama! You know what, when Tanner gets big enough we oughtta teach him this dance and you can tell him that story too!"

'_... and you could hear me screaming a mile away as I was headed out towards the door..._'

Linda twirled around to the beat of the music and had her back to Annie when she replied, "Don't be silly Annie, Tanner's dead."

_'...you could hear me screaming-you could hear me screaming-you could hear me screaming...'_

The cd began to skip and Annie tripped on one of several stones that suddenly littered the living room floor and stumbled to a halt.

"Wh-what?" Annie gasped, her stomach twisting in a knot.

Linda slowly turned while answering, "Well, you left him all alone in the forest. What did you think was going to happen? The Impossible Man murdered your baby brother and its all your fault."

With an exasperated sigh, Linda completed the turn and faced Annie, revealing dull eyes covered in a slimy, grey film and a thick black fluid pulsed out of her ears and mouth.

"I never should have trusted you to look after him." Linda mumbled around the ooze that coated her tongue and leaked past her lips to drip off her chin.

Annie let out a blood-curdling scream as she fell backward and crashed into the cool, dirt wall of her underground prison. With a gasp, Annie's eyes flew open and she was forced to face the pitch-black reality that her mind had unsuccessfully tried to escape. The sounds of rustling accompanied by grunts and curses came from somewhere above her head and it dawned on her that the noises were what had drawn her back to consciousness. Fearing the return of the Impossible Man, Annie shrank into a tighter ball and squeezed her eyes shut, hating herself for the act of cowardice; she wanted to be brave and put up a fight against her kidnapper, but how did you fight against something that wasn't even supposed to be real?

Up in the tunnel, Dean was struggling to pull himself forward as his broad shoulders scraped along the narrowing walls and dirt continuously rained down on his head. When he heard the singing abruptly cut off by a harsh shriek of fear, Dean froze and his throat tightened with dread.

"No!" He whispered roughly.

Up until now, her voice had been steadily growing louder and he knew he had to be getting close. Even though Annie was more like a stranger than a sibling, to have her die when he was only moments away from reaching her would be more than Dean could bear. His mind flashed back to that horrible night in Cold Oak when he watched Sam collapse to the ground and saw the light leave his eyes, knowing that if he'd just arrived 10 seconds sooner he could have saved his brother and the entire course of their lives would have been different.

"Annie!" Dean called out; his voice sounded thin in the claustrophobic confines that surrounded him.

He held his breath and listened for any indication that she was still alive, but a stifling silence blanketed the tunnel and thudded painfully against his ears.

"Annie, Damnit!" He shouted, "Answer me!"

Down in the pit, Annie's breath caught in her throat and she wilted at the sound of her name being shouted angrily. It didn't seem possible that there still existed higher levels of fear left to for her to achieve, but the familiar voice made Annie's blood run cold and she began to shiver uncontrollably. She clenched her hands together and tried to take back control of her body, desperate to avoid making any noise that could draw attention. If almost any other voice had called out her name, she would have been on her feet, screaming with joy, but as it was, Annie couldn't decide which terrified her more, remaining undiscovered in this tomb for all eternity or facing her unstable half-brother with his cold eyes and duffel bag full of weapons.

Dean pictured himself returning to the Impala empty-handed and delivering the news to that kid that his sister would never be coming back; it was an intolerable outcome and one that Dean was unwilling to accept. He surged forward, dragging himself through the damp tunnel for several more feet before suddenly arriving at an opening to a small cavern. Dean peered through the hole, into what appeared to be an abandoned, half-collapsed well. He swept his flashlight around the interior and felt a heavy mixture of relief and dread when the beam landed on a small, dirt-covered figure huddled against the far wall, about six feet below him. Annie had her head down, knees drawn up and her hands tucked under her chin; dark, tangled curls, still damp with holy water and matted with mud, spilled forward and obscured her face.

Dean was deeply affected by the pitiful sight, knowing that by chasing the kids away earlier he had contributed to Annie ending up in this wretched state, but this was exactly the type of thing he had wanted to keep them away from, although a part of him thought he should known better. The kids hadn't even made it a whole day after meeting their older brothers before they were running and screaming through a dark forest and ending up cowering captives of an evil spirit. Clearly, John's youngest were not immune to the Winchester curse.

"Hey, Annie," Dean called down to the girl, "Can you hear me?"

Annie didn't reply, but the brief shudder that wracked her small frame at the sound of his voice was proof enough that she was still alive and the heavy burden of dread eased slightly off of his shoulders.

"Hang tight, kid." He said with audible relief, "I'm coming down there to get you."

The entrance to the well was barely wide enough for Dean to fit through and the surrounding walls offered no hand-holds of any kind. Realizing that there was going to be no graceful way to get to the bottom, Dean let out an irritated curse and angled his body to avoid breaking his neck or crushing Annie, then dropped to the ground. His shoulders impacted the solid earth with a jarring thud as he landed in an awkward, upside-down heap.

"Ow." Dean groaned painfully, "I'm gonna feel that one for awhile."

He shuffled into an upright position, then paused and leaned against the wall to catch his breath. Dean's plummet to the ground had startled Annie into jerking her head up and she squinted in his direction. After spending so much time in complete darkness, the dim bulb of Dean's flashlight seemed to emit an intense glare that stabbed painfully into her retinas and multi-colored blobs danced around, obscuring her vision so that she did not see the look of dismay that passed over Dean's face when his eyes scanned the ground on which they were sitting.

Annie raised her bound hands to shield her sensitive eyes and the movement drew Dean's attention to the red welts that had flared up around the twine digging into her wrists. The restraints looked so tight that Dean wondered, with no small amount of concern, how blood was still able to circulate to her hands.

He moved to crouch in front of Annie and asked gently, "Hey, are you alright, Kid? Are you hurt?"

Annie peered at him cautiously through the small gaps between her fingers, confused by the questions and the concern in his voice. Having already concluded that the man was seriously unhinged, she was unsure how to respond to this kinder, gentler version who had mysteriously materialized in her cell. Annie's mouth had gone bone dry, but seeing no other course of action she cleared her throat and found the courage to speak to Dean again.

"How are you here?" She asked, apprehensively, "Did the Impos- that guy trap you down here too?"

To Annie, that would be the best-case scenario because the only alternative she could think of was that Dean had decided to kill her after all and had somehow tracked her all the way to a hole in the ground in the middle of the forest to do so.

Dean shook his head and offered her a reassuring smile. "Nope, I came down here to get you."

Annie did not find this reassuring in the least and unfortunately, Dean chose that precise moment to flip open his pocket knife with the intention of cutting away her restraints. The dancing blobs of color had been slowly receding from Annie's vision and her eyes snapped to the blade and a small sound, like that of a wounded animal, escaped from the back of her throat as terror enveloped her entire body with a paralyzing intensity. Dean reached forward and Annie, completely misinterpreting it as a final act of aggression, recoiled violently, rapping the back of her head against the hard earthen wall in the process.

"No, don't! Please don't!" She pleaded frantically.

Dean pulled back slightly, alarmed by her reaction.

"Hey whoa! You're ok, I'm not going to hurt you. I'm just going to cut your hands free." He insisted, but Annie was inconsolable.

Although she'd held up remarkably well in the face of the evening's extraordinary events, she had finally reached her limit and completely fell apart.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" She wept desperately, "Please, I'm sorry I called you psychopath and I didn't mean what I said about Dad. I shouldn't have said that, just please don't kill me!"

Annie was not even fully aware of what she was saying anymore as an uninterrupted stream of pleas flowed steadily out of her mouth. Dean was at a loss at how to console the hysterical girl and decided that the best course of action would be to first quickly remove the bonds and once the knife was stowed away maybe he could convince her that he meant no harm.

Hoping he wasn't about to escalate the hysterics, Dean gently gripped her bound wrists with one hand and at his touch Annie choked on her last word and fell silent. Dean glanced at her face and saw her eyes were squeezed shut and a single tear slipped out from behind her closed lids as she seemed to brace herself for a painful blow. His forehead creased in a sad frown and Dean quickly, but carefully, slipped the blade underneath the twine, sliced upward and the restraints fell away, then pocketed the knife. Annie had gone eerily limp and quiet, so he took the opportunity to examine the wounds around her wrists.

He spoke softly as he assessed the damage, "Annie, I didn't come down here to hurt you, although I can probably guess why you would think that. About what happened back at the motel..."

He paused, realizing he didn't exactly know how explain it, then decided to just start with the obvious.

"When you guys showed up and dropped that bombshell I... reacted badly - Ok, I was a dick."

He gauged her reaction to his words, checking for any sign that she was warming up to his self-deprecation. She was not.

Dean sighed, "I'll admit it, I was pissed when I realized who you were, but not at you." He added quickly, "At Dad. I just don't understand how he could have kept something like this from us. But what I do know is you didn't deserve to be treated that way and you definitely don't deserve to be tied up down here by some podunk, psycho dead guy. Now all I want to do is get you out of here and back home safe with your brother, but I need you to work with me on that, ok?"

Dean released her arms, satisfied that aside from a couple shallow lacerations the wounds were relatively superficial. Annie slowly opened her eyes and studied Dean's face, searching for any indication that his words were simply a cruel deception, but she saw only concern and sincerity shining in his clear green eyes. It was such a sharp contrast to the hardened glare he'd worn back at the motel, she could have almost mistaken him for a different person. Annie hesitantly allowed herself to feel hope, something she hadn't even been aware that she was devoid of until its swift return left her slightly breathless.

Annie met Dean's eyes and admitted quietly, "I really want to get out of here."

It came out as a whispered confession, as though she feared those very words would be the trigger that would cause Dean to drop the caring big brother routine and return to the scary behavior he'd exhibited earlier. However, his face simply shifted into a relieved smile and he offered his hand to help her up; Annie returned his smile with a fleeting, timid version of her own and accepted it. Dean pulled Annie to her feet, then turned and aimed his flashlight at the small hole set into the wall, just above his head.

"That tunnel leads back to the surface. I'm going to boost you up first, just crawl forward a few feet and then wait for me to climb up behind you before taking off, ok?"

Annie nodded, but was only half-listening; she had stood up too quickly after spending so much time crouched in a tense ball and the resulting head rush caused her vision to narrow and Dean's voice sounded muffled and far away. She tilted sharply to the left before her knees gave out and Annie sank back to the ground.

"Whoa, easy there Wobbly."

Dean reached down to help her back up, but Annie waved him off.

"Head rush." She informed him, "I just need a second."

She pressed a hand against her forehead and rested the other on a smooth rock while she waited for the wooziness to pass. Once her vision cleared, Annie prepared to try and stand up again when an undefined misgiving that had been hovering around the edge of her subconscious suddenly pushed it way to the forefront of her mind and screamed for attention. Something wasn't right about the stones; they had a strange texture and made hollow clunking sounds when knocked together that made her skin crawl. She picked up the large round one that her hand was resting on and inspected it.

"Annie, don't-" Dean began, but it was too late.

"Oh no." Annie whispered, "No no no no..."

The first thing that she focused on were the teeth, followed by the two empty eye sockets, then Annie's gaze travelled from the skull in her hand to the bones that covered the bottom of the well from wall to wall. She thought she had been alone down here in the dark, but the entire time she'd been trodding on the remains of the Impossible Man's other victims.

"...no nono no no no..."

Annie was dimly aware that she was saying that word too many times, but she couldn't seem to stop herself anymore than she could tear her eyes away from the bones. Dean reached down and plucked the skull out of her hand and tossed it to floor; Annie's stomach flipped as it clattered across its skeletal brethren. She carried on with the muttered denials until a warm, calloused hand cupped around the side of her face and gently turned her head away from the gruesome sight.

"Don't look at that, ok?" Dean said gently.

Annie's horrified eye's found Dean's and she said tearfully, "All those people! How-how many are there? They all died down here!"

"I know." Dean replied, "Its horrible, but there's nothing we can do for them. Its too late for them, but not for you. Just focus on getting yourself out of here and don't think about them right now."

This was sensible advice and the rational portion of Annie's brain struggled to surface through the terror and exhaustion, even as her eyes were inexorably drawn back to the desiccated bones.

Dean leaned down to catch her eyes as her head started to twist away and insisted, "Hey, just look at me. Keep your eyes on me and don't think about anything except how we're going to climb up through that tunnel and get you home. Can you do that?"

She reluctantly locked eyes with Dean, then nodded and tried to do as he instructed. She still wasn't entirely sure that he could be trusted, but he was the only living, breathing person she was likely to encounter down here and he was promising her a way out, so with with no alternative, Annie latched on to him like a life line. Satisfied that he had her attention, Dean dropped his hand, then passed her a small flashlight. He helped her back up and this time kept a grip on her arm to prevent her toppling over again and guided her towards the tunnel. He knelt down and laced his hands together for Annie to step into, then lifted her off the ground with ease. The rush of blood returning to Annie's hands caused them to tingle painfully as she reached up and fumbled clumsily for the edge of the tunnel, then hauled herself into the confining space with a degree of difficulty.

She wiggled forward then paused to wait for Dean, as he had instructed. As she listened to him grunt, curse and heave his way out of the well, Annie shined the flashlight ahead of her and followed the beam with her eyes until it disappeared into the gloom. Her heart pounded painfully as she felt the full claustrophobic power of her circumstance, the air supply in the tunnel was musty and stale and the walls encircling her were uncomfortably close. There was not even enough room to crawl properly; she was going to have to scuttle forward on her elbows and knees and the only thing that kept outright panic at bay was the knowledge that Dean was much larger than her and had made it through the tunnel once already without getting stuck. She was unable to turn around to check on the progress of her unlikely rescuer and let out a startled yelp when he finally tapped her foot and announced she could start moving. Before he even completed the sentence, Annie shot forward and quickly outdistanced Dean, whose movements were much more constricted by the tight space. Dean called for her to slow down as her silhouette began to fade from his view, but gripped by an intense desperation to reach fresh air and open space, Annie could not have obeyed even if she wanted to. Dean noted with irritation that his little sister was not any better at listening to him than Sam was and swore violently when she rounded a bend and disappeared completely.

/*****/

_Stay tuned for the next chapter and The Big Fight!_


End file.
